Umbridge the Villain in OotP : So Bad It’s Good

Apr 26, 2007

Posted by: SueTLC

Uncategorized

Time magazine has a new article online about the upcoming summer movie season, and focuses on not the heroes of the films, but the villains. Noting these characters “get the plot spinning toward catastrophe; its their lurid schemes the hero must rise to defeat,” one of the twelve mentioned is Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.Quotage:

“As Dolores Umbridge, the bureaucrat from the Ministry of Magic in this summer’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Imelda Staunton is a little bit priestess, a little bit villainous. Staunton, the latest in a line of top British thespians to visit Hogwart’s, found it a tough balancing act: “The character has to be ridiculous and yet real and frightening. She has to be silly and yet not cartoony. It’s difficult to gauge.” The performance and the couture established an ostensibly soft side to Dolores. “She wears cardigans and pinks. She threatens, but if you don’t listen to the words it’s just a pleasant sound. She’s gentle and pleasing. If she seemed hard, there would be no surprises.”

Thanks bluedew!





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